By Madla S.B. No. 227 75R930 DWS-F A BILL TO BE ENTITLED 1-1 AN ACT 1-2 relating to a grant or loan for a local area adversely affected by 1-3 a reduction in defense-related activity. 1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: 1-5 SECTION 1. Subtitle F, Title 4, Government Code, is amended 1-6 by adding Chapter 486 to read as follows: 1-7 CHAPTER 486. ASSISTANCE FOR LOCAL AREA AFFECTED BY 1-8 DEFENSE REDUCTION 1-9 Sec. 486.001. DEFINITIONS. In this chapter: 1-10 (1) "Defense worker" means an employee of: 1-11 (A) the United States Department of Defense, 1-12 including a member of the armed forces and a government civilian 1-13 worker; 1-14 (B) any employee of a government agency, private 1-15 business, or department of defense related function that is 1-16 employed on a defense facility; or 1-17 (C) any employee of a business that provides 1-18 direct services or products to the department of defense and whose 1-19 job is directly dependent on defense expenditures. 1-20 (2) "Defense worker job" means a department of defense 1-21 authorized permanent position or a position held or occupied by one 1-22 or more defense workers for more than 12 months. 1-23 (3) "Department" means the Texas Department of 1-24 Commerce. 2-1 (4) "Panel" means the Defense Economic Adjustment 2-2 Assistance Panel. 2-3 Sec. 486.002. GENERAL POWERS AND DUTIES. (a) The 2-4 department shall administer and monitor the implementation of this 2-5 chapter. 2-6 (b) The department shall establish criteria and procedures 2-7 for evaluations and awarding grants. 2-8 (c) The department shall adopt rules necessary to carry out 2-9 the purposes of this chapter. 2-10 Sec. 486.003. ELIGIBILITY FOR GRANT. (a) A local 2-11 governmental entity is eligible for a grant under this chapter if 2-12 it is: 2-13 (1) a municipality or county that is an adversely 2-14 affected defense-dependent community; or 2-15 (2) a regional planning commission that has an 2-16 adversely affected defense-dependent community within its 2-17 boundaries. 2-18 (b) A municipality or county is an adversely affected 2-19 defense-dependent community if the department determines that: 2-20 (1) the municipality or county requires assistance 2-21 because of: 2-22 (A) the proposed or actual establishment, 2-23 realignment, or closure of a defense facility; 2-24 (B) the cancellation or termination of a United 2-25 States Department of Defense contract or the failure of the 2-26 department of defense to proceed with an approved major weapon 2-27 system program; 3-1 (C) a publicly announced planned major reduction 3-2 in department of defense spending that would directly and adversely 3-3 affect the municipality or county; or 3-4 (D) the closure or a significant reduction of 3-5 the operations of a defense facility as the result of a merger, 3-6 acquisition, or consolidation of a defense contractor operating the 3-7 facility; and 3-8 (2) the municipality or county is expected to 3-9 experience, during the period between the date an event described 3-10 by Subdivision (1) is finally approved and the date that the event 3-11 is to be substantially completed, a direct loss of: 3-12 (A) 2,500 or more defense worker jobs in any 3-13 area of the municipality or county that is located in a 3-14 metropolitan statistical area; 3-15 (B) 1,000 or more defense worker jobs in any 3-16 area of the municipality or county that is not located in a 3-17 metropolitan statistical area; or 3-18 (C) one percent of the civilian jobs in the 3-19 municipality or county. 3-20 Sec. 486.004. GRANT CRITERIA. From money appropriated for 3-21 this purpose, the department may make a grant to an eligible local 3-22 governmental entity to allow the entity to meet a matching money or 3-23 investment requirement in order to receive from the United States 3-24 assistance that is provided to allow the local governmental entity 3-25 to respond to or recover from an event described by Section 3-26 486.003(b)(1). In addition, a grant may be made to an eligible 3-27 local governmental entity to match the entity's contribution for a 4-1 purpose described in Section 486.005 on a closed or realigned 4-2 defense facility. A grant may not be less than $50,000 or more 4-3 than the least of: 4-4 (1) 50 percent of the amount of matching money or 4-5 investment that the local governmental entity is required to 4-6 provide; 4-7 (2) 50 percent of the local governmental entity's 4-8 investment for purposes described in Section 486.005, in cases 4-9 where United States assistance is not available; or 4-10 (3) $2 million. 4-11 Sec. 486.005. USE OF PROCEEDS. (a) The local governmental 4-12 entity may use the proceeds of the grant for purchase of property 4-13 from the department of defense or its designated agent, new 4-14 construction, rehabilitation, or renovation of facilities or 4-15 infrastructure, or purchase of capital equipment or insurance. 4-16 (b) The local governmental entity may deliver the money to a 4-17 special district, development corporation, or other instrumentality 4-18 of the state or the local governmental entity for use as provided 4-19 by this chapter and other applicable law. 4-20 Sec. 486.006. DEFENSE ECONOMIC ADJUSTMENT ASSISTANCE PANEL. 4-21 The department shall establish a defense economic adjustment 4-22 assistance panel within the department. The panel consists of at 4-23 least three and not more than five professional full-time employees 4-24 of the department appointed by the executive director of the 4-25 department. 4-26 Sec. 486.007. APPLICATION FOR GRANT. A local governmental 4-27 entity may apply for a grant under this chapter to the department 5-1 on a form prescribed by the department. The department shall 5-2 establish periodic application cycles to enable the panel and 5-3 department to evaluate groups of applicants in relation to each 5-4 other. 5-5 Sec. 486.008. EVALUATION OF APPLICATION. The panel shall 5-6 evaluate each application and assign the applicant a score based 5-7 on: 5-8 (1) the significance of the adverse effect within the 5-9 local governmental entity, including the number of jobs lost in 5-10 relation to the workforce in the local governmental entity's 5-11 jurisdiction and the effect on the area's economy and tax revenue; 5-12 (2) the extent to which the local governmental entity 5-13 has used its existing resources to promote local economic 5-14 development; 5-15 (3) the amount of any grant that the local 5-16 governmental entity has previously received under this chapter; 5-17 (4) the anticipated number of jobs to be created in 5-18 relation to the amount of the grant sought; and 5-19 (5) the extent to which the grant will affect the 5-20 region in which the local governmental entity is located. 5-21 Sec. 486.009. MAKING OF GRANT. The panel shall submit its 5-22 scores to the department's governing body. The governing body 5-23 shall use the scores to determine whether to make a grant to an 5-24 applicant. The governing body may not make a grant unless the 5-25 legislature has appropriated the money for the grant. 5-26 SECTION 2. The importance of this legislation and the 5-27 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an 6-1 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the 6-2 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several 6-3 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended, 6-4 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its 6-5 passage, and it is so enacted.